Quick Tomato Sauce for Pasta

As a child I was a picky eater. There were lots of things I grew up not liking. Spaghetti was one of those dishes that never appealed to me, and even seemed gross, but I married a man who loved spaghetti and meatballs, and I soon learned that living life eating alfredo sauce meant a wider waste band. I began buying pasta sauce when I got married. I'd warm the canned tomato sauce with lackluster and eat it with even less excitement. The sauce just wasn't good. I remembered the days I visited Italy and inhaled any kind of pasta with a ravenous appetite. In Italy, tomato sauce was fresh and light, and I loved it, so I decided maybe I should try making it myself.

This recipe is one of the first I tried from scratch. The best thing about it? The sauce is done by the time your pasta is finished cooking. If you want a meat sauce, brown your meat and allow it to simmer in the sauce for a few minutes before adding it to your pasta. This really is the best tomato pasta sauce I've ever had, and it's very flexible. If you have fresh herbs, use them instead of dry. For a spicier sauce, add red pepper flakes with the garlic. The other thing I love about homemade sauce, there are no dyes, added sugar, or preservatives. You know exactly what you're serving to your family.

Basic Tomato Sauce for Pasta

3 T Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic, minced or pressed
1 (28 oz.) Can Crushed Tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz.) Can Diced Tomatoes
1 tsp. Dried Basil (1 T or more for fresh)
1 tsp. Dried Parsley (1 T fresh)
1/2 tsp. Dried Oregano
2 Dashes Balsamic Vinegar OR 1/4 tsp. Sugar
Salt and Pepper

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
2. Stir in the tomatoes, with the juice. Bring mixture to a simmer, and cook until slightly thickened--10 minutes.
3. Stir in the herbs and Balsamic Vinegar. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I usually start with 1 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper). Add any meat and vegetables, toss with pasta before serving.

*This recipe makes about 4 cups or enough for 1 pound of pasta. I love to freeze half the sauce in a ziplock bag and use another night for an even quicker dinner.

Raspberry Buttermilk Cake

For the past five or so years, I have made my own birthday cake. This year I thought and thought about what I wanted to make myself. I take no thought for anyone else's likes and dislikes, and I usually want to make something new because I love trying out new recipes. I was going to try making a French sponge cake called a Genoise, but I must have deflated the batter too much and my cake was flat and dense and it was two o'clock. My parents and my in-laws were all coming at 7 to sing and eat with me, and I had no cake. I decided to make a family favorite, my buttermilk cake, and fill it with the same toppings as the genoise. This buttermilk cake is a reliable recipe that works every time, and the cake is moist, a bit tangy, and so far goes with any frosting/filling combination. Don't be intimidated by all the steps. This cake really comes together fairly quickly and the various frostings and fillings are simple and fast to make.

For the cake you will need:

3 cups All-purpose flour (if you don't live at a higher elevation, omit 1/4 cup of the flour)

2 tsp. Baking powder

¾ tsp. salt

16 T (2 sticks) Butter, softened

1 ¾ cups Granulated sugar

4 large Eggs, room temperature

1 T Vanilla extract

1 ½ cups Buttermilk, room temperature

1. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease 3 9-inch cake pans with butter and flour (I just buy the flour spray from the store and it works great).

2. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl or your stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy, it will almost look like frosting and be almost white in color. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined. Beat in vanilla.

4. Reduce your mixer speed to low and mix in one-third of the flour mixture, followed by half of the buttermilk. Mix in half the remaining flour, then the remaining buttermilk, and then add in the rest of the flour. Mix until just incorporated.

5. Give the batter a final stir to ensure the mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the 3 prepared pans, smooth evenly, and lightly tap the pans on the counter.

6. Bake the cakes for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a few crumbs attached.

7. Let the cake cool about 10 minutes in the pans and then flip on parchment paper on a cooling rack. This cake is very sticky and moist, and if you let it cool directly on the cooling rack, it will be difficult to remove and it may just fall apart.

Raspberry Filling

¾ cup Raspberry syrup

1 tsp. unflavored gelatin (sort of optional)

½ tsp. Vanilla extract

1 cup Fresh raspberries

Combine the syrup, gelatin, and extract in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve gelatin. Add in the fresh raspberries and mash with a spoon. Turn on the stove to medium heat and bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Allow the mixture to boil for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour filling into a small bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold or overnight.

*The gelatin helps the filling set up, but has no effect on taste. If you don’t have gelatin, just make the filling as directed and it will be slightly more runny.

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream

4 ounces Cream cheese, softened

¼ cup Powdered Sugar

½ tsp Vanilla extract

Large pinch of Salt

1 cup Heavy Cream

In a large bowl, whip the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt together with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the mixer to low and gradually add the heavy cream. Once all the cream is incorporated, increase the speed to medium-high and whip until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces Cream Cheese, softened

8 T (one stick) Butter, softened

1, 8 ounce container, Marshmallow cream

4 cups Powdered sugar

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add in the marshmallow cream and mix until incorporated. With your mixer on low, beat in powdered sugar one cup at a time. Once all the sugar is incorporated, increase your mixer to medium-high and beat the frosting until light and fluffy. Cover and refrigerate about one hour, if possible, so the frosting is easier to handle when icing your cake.

Assembling the Cake

Fresh Raspberries (one 12 ounce package is enough for the filling and the cake).

To assemble the cake, place one layer of buttermilk cake on a large plate or cake stand. Using a piping bag, out line the outer edge of the cake with cream cheese frosting, making a circle or well of frosting. Gently place raspberries in the frosting around the edge of the cake. Then gently spoon and spread the raspberry filling inside the well. 

Cover the filling with half the cream cheese whipped cream. Place another layer of buttermilk cake on top and repeat making the well, placing the raspberries, filling, whipped cream. Once you place the final layer on top. Frost the cake with the cream cheese frosting in any way you desire. Refrigerate until ready to serve

Click Here for a Printable Version

I've made this cake 3 times and every time it's an absolute hit. The cake is decadent and fancy, but simple enough to do in an afternoon. This cake is also very good the next day, so if you need to, you can prepare it a day ahead and leave it in the fridge until you're ready to eat it.

Mason's First Birthday

When Shelby turned one I really tried to go all out. I threw two parties because my family and my in-laws are so big. I made 2 cakes and did two different games (with prizes). For Mason it may look like I went all out, but I really didn't. I always have grandiose visions in my head of perfectly crafted sugar cookies and a five tiered cake, but after the Superbowl party six days earlier, I really had no energy for royal icing or more baking than was necessary. However, his party turned out perfect and I still cannot believe my little man is one.

Here's the party invitation. I used my Cricut Mickey Mouse cartridge to cut out the Mickey heads and ears. I cut out the letter M with my Lyrical Letters cartridge and used Microsoft Word for the invite itself. I found a really cool free Disney font on Pinterest that worked really well. Though, it was a hard font to read. Everyone mixed up the time for the party. Some came at 6, some came at 6:30 (the actual time), and some came at 7. Whatever, but if you ever use the Disney font, make sure any details are very readable.

 For Mason's birthday we got him the Little Wheelies Amusement Park. He loves cars, and he got a Batman raceway for Christmas, so this was a great compliment. It makes lots of noise, perfect for mom, but he loves it and so does his sister. It's hard to have a birthday right after Christmas. My kids get so much, but as parents I guess it's easy to buy more. I've never had a hard time spoiling my kids, sadly. Pretty soon the house will overflow and I'll start sending home toys with random neighborhood kids who just came over for a playdate.

These strawberry cream sodas were the hit of the night! I served them in Mason jars (because his name is Mason right) that I had collected from my summer canning. I used cupcake liners for lids and paper straws. I love the look of paper straws, but they get soggy sort of fast.

I felt a little cheap because I made this birthday banner, but it turned out darling! I used my Cricut and my scrapbook software (MemoryMixer) along with that free Disney font (again). It sort of brought everything together.

 

And here's the cake! The bottom tier was chocolate with salted caramel frosting. The top tier was red velvet, also the flavor of his smash cake. I made the ears with fondant and rice krispie treats. I wish the ears were taller, but it takes a surprising amount of rice krispies. I also did the ears last, which I'll never do again. It took forever for the cereal treats to cool. I'll definitely make this first if I ever do a Mickey/Minnie cake again.

Remember how my kids have too many toys? Well now they have a Bat-mobile. It's all my fault really. We were going to buy him a Fisher Price car and then I found this on Target's website, and it was on sale, and we got free shipping, but he loved it!

Happy Birthday Little Man!